Digital Signage Forum and BlueFire Digital will bring series of papers on digital signage interactivity from mobile phone. Topics will include SMS, Bluetooth and Wi-fi at technical level, real life scenarios and more importantly how to monetize from it.

Recently on my trip to Screen Expo in London a customer asked me regarding why he needed SMS interactivity for his LED digital signage? He may have been playing devil’s advocate but being supplier of the product the questions forced me to explain why he or any digital signage network operator will need some sort of interactivity.

Now there are few of interactivity technologies are available in the market for digital signage. These include plain kiosk, interactive window display, gesture based interaction and others alike. Some of these technologies can be very beneficial to the advertiser since they can track usage and collect data, with permission, while others can provide longer exposure to the brand. In most cases these technologies provide interactivity to one consumer at a time and requires them to be in arm's length (or leg’s length) of the screen.

Mobile interactivity can alleviate limitations inherited by interactive technologies mentioned above. Mobile interactivity doesn’t require the consumer(s) to be in arms length of the digital signage screen at same time allowing many consumers can participate in the interaction. But these dose not answer the question proposed by the client why mobile interactivity and in general any type of interactivity is needed?

Mobile interactivity connects ubiquitous mobile phone to the digital signage screen. It is highly likely that a person passing by a digital signage screen is carrying a mobile phone (excluding infants and children). Connecting viewers’ most personal device the digital signage screen can be an invaluable branding tool for the advertisers because it allows advertisers to be in the hand of the consumer. Mobile interactivity and SMS in general allows the network owners and advertisers to pass promotional material to the consumer on their mobile phone.Second, mobile interactivity keeps consumers’ eye to the screen. Not only the participant is looking at the digital signage screen frequently but bystander’s attention is drawn towards the digital signage screen equipped with mobile interactivity. Simply, more people looking at the digital screen for longer period of time equating to higher CPM hence higher revenue.

One of the most basic mobile interactivity is text to screen and text to vote. These applications allows viewers to send a SMS or text message or vote on a poll or question from their mobile phone to digital signage screen. In these application viewers send text messages of their opinion or vote to a number listed on the screen. Once the viewers’ text messages are received they are displayed on the digital signage screen. Typically these digital screens are behind the bar, hanging from the ceiling or from the 5 floor of some building.

Examples:

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